Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson will get three more rounds to settle their flyweight tournament semi-final fight, following improperly tabulated scorecards at UFC on FX 2 in Sydney.

Scores were initially read reflecting Johnson as a split decision winner (29-28, 28-29, 29-28). The judges scorecards, however, were tabulated incorrectly and should have shown the fight as a majority draw (28-28, 29-29, 29-28).

UFC president Dana White said it was human error, and confirmed the commission overseeing the event took full accountability.

“Controversy has stuck to us like glue, lately,” he said at the post-fight press conference. “The (Johnson-McCall) fight was not scored properly. The fight was a draw. In the case of a draw, the fight was supposed to go to a fourth round.

“The commission has taken full responsibility.”

Craig Waller, who spoke on behalf of the governing body, the Department of Sport and Recreation, was apologetic following the foul-up.

Photo courtesy of Megan Olivi

“It was a bit of an unfortunate situation,” he said. “I take full responsibility for the error that was incurred. Unfortunately, I misread one of the scorecards, which was transcribed onto the tally sheet. The fight should have been a majority draw.

“I sincerely apologize to both fighters and to every single fan of the UFC.”

Johnson said he felt he won the fight. The error, he said, prolongs things and forces the evening’s other flyweight winner, Joseph Benavidez, to wait even longer to see who he faces for the flyweight title.

“Mighty Mouse” did say, however, he’ll work within the circumstances and settle the score with McCall.

“I thought I had the victory,” Johnson said following the announcement of the draw. “It is what it is. It happens.”

McCall, who was initially disappointed following the announcement of the winner, said he’s excited to get another chance at fighting Johnson. When asked what his reaction was to the scorecard error, McCall just said things happen.

“Shoot, we get to fight again!” McCall said enthusiastically. “You guys had a good time, right?

“I’m happy because I got a little vindicated. We’ll just do it again and that’s awesome.”

Waller hinted at the Johnson-McCall rematch being in April, but when asked if he could confirm the timeline for the fight, White replied, “I have no idea.”

MMAWeekly.com will continue to follow up on the rematch as more information becomes available.

Sucks that they had a contingency plan in place in the (what seemed unlikely) event of a draw and then it gets fouled up because someone didn’t pay attention to detail.

phrankthetank

Mind blowing isn’t it? The odds of there being a draw are so slim, yet they made a contingency plan for it anyway, and everyone still ends up disappointed. At least they fessed up to it rather than biting their tongues and giving uncle creepy a loss

I can’t believe it was scored a draw. MCcall won this fight. I can’t even see were it was close. Mighty mouse lost round 1 and 3.horrible judging once again!

Booker T

What the heck! Uncle Creepy kicked his butt!

maddawgmar

I Felt that McCall won the fight. Rd 1 was close but I think the two takedowns won it, even though he was staggered. Rd 2 was clearly Johnsons. And Rd 3 was clearly McCalls, maybe coulda been a 10-8 Rd. I personally thought the ref could have stopped it with ten seconds to go.

Though this situation is messed up, I think McCall is getting what he deserves. Otherwise he would gave been screwed. Let’s do it again it was a great fight.

pooby

Wait a minute. Wait just a damn minute. So, the REAL scores were 29-29, 29-29, 29-28. The scores were READ 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.

Then Craig Waller says “Unfortunately, I misread one of the scorecards”. Huh? No sir, you misread TWO scorecards, MORON!

And by the way, aren’t the judges still ringside while the scores are being read? Two of them had it scored a draw, yet the numbers Buffer read showed no draw scores. Why didn’t the judges recognize this mistake then and there and say something?!

That is a good question: if those judges heard the announcer, they certainly would have heard wrong info being announced. Something smells fishy.

emmettbarnacle

Well first come on judges what’s 10+10+9 second uncle creepy owned Johnson and if it had gone to the 4th McCall would have probebly finished him considering Johnson was screwed at the end of the third. What the hell are they teaching in school these days apparently not math or mma judging for that matter

Anthony

Anybody else get a vibe that maybe one of the powers(Dana, Frank,etc) might have been as embarassed by the decision as the majority of people who saw the fight were? So they made up the story about reading the score cards incorrectly for back tracking purposes? Doesnt happen too often, especially not in the biggest platform for MMA in the world the UFC–Seems kinda shady to me–am I alone here?

phrankthetank

I don’t know if you’re alone, but I’m not with you

ckpunk

Did I miss something? Aren’t they using a “10 Point Must” system? Where the winner of the round get’s 10 points and the loser gets 9 or less, therefore they are now saying that not 1 BUT 2 of these so called “judges” scored a round 10-10 violating the very principle of a “10 Point Must” system. The only way a draw could occur is if there was a point deduction and a round resulted in a 9-9 score (see Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans’ first fight). Oh and it may make me unpopular but I had Johnson winning rounds 1 and 2 w/ McCall taking the 3rd, I thought McCall could’ve gained a stoppage if he would of focused more on pounding Johnson then playing to the crowd.

bbtakayama

No you are completely wrong. If a round is even they score it 10-10. The “winner” of the round is awarded 10 points in boxing, and points are deducted for knockdowns bla bla bla…

This fight should have been a draw or a win for McCall. Here are the only acceptable scores for this fight.

Round 1= 10-10, 10-9 McCall or 10-9 Johnson

Round 2= 10-9 Johnson

Round 3= 10-8 McCall

Anyway you add that up MacCall won, or it should have gone to round five. But if nobody knows how to add then it doesn’t make any difference how it is scored.

youngmandan

This is messed up if you look at the pic of the scorecards they show a majority decision for johnson with one judge scoring a draw, thats not what buffer read out and not what it has been changed to. Im really confused, there must be more than one error

KBEsq

I cannot speak to what Buffer read out, but the pic that is shown in this story is not the actual score cards of the individual judges. It is a picture of the score card that was transcribed with the errors by the commissioner.

All in all, no biggie. Both fighters should be happy. Even Johnson. It’s not like the result was changed because the powers that be thought it was unjust. The result SHOULD have been a draw and a mistake was made. Now, instead of just doing one more round, both fighters get another pay check, which I’m sure is quite substantial, to fight again. Plus, we get to see another amazing fight. I highly doubt Johnson gives two s#($s about the fact that Benavidez has to wait, like he said at the post fight presser.

bbtakayama

Why is the UFC still using the 10 point must system like it is a ****ing boxing match!!!!

The NFL should score games like a ****ing soccer match!!!!!!

samammerman

i posted earlier, that was a lop sided fight and only the village idiot seen different, there is no need for a re-match, the crowd who watched it upclose and live ! responded appropriately, nuff said, its going the way of boxing as foretold it would,and this like edgar fight will start the great decline.

That makes much more sense than the initial ruling. I had McCall winning that bout. Of course Johnson will do his best to convince us that he won, but he certainly did not. I do not agree with the draw, but I sure didn’t agree with that decision. The contingency plan was not in place, after all, was it?
At least three more rounds will give us a better picture of who is better of the two. Don’t blame McCall on the judging or misreading of the cards, in tallying the totals. Johnson makes me laugh, though. Too late for him to make us believe.